Centene Corp

Centene is a health insurer focused on lower-income and underserved Americans. It runs health plans for Medicaid, the government program for low-income families and people with disabilities; Medicare, the federal program for people 65 and older; and the Health Insurance Marketplace, where individuals and families shop for their own coverage under the Affordable Care Act. It had 27.6 million members as of December 31, 2025, and says it is the nation's largest Medicaid and Marketplace insurer and largest stand-alone Medicare drug plan provider.

The model is called managed care. Governments and members pay Centene premiums, often a fixed monthly amount per member, and Centene pays doctors, hospitals and pharmacies for members' care. Profit is what is left after medical and administrative costs. Margins are narrow, so small changes in medical spending move results sharply.

Total revenue was $194.8 billion in FY2025. Medicaid supplied 57% of external revenue, with 12.5 million members in 30 states at year-end; Florida and New York each provided about 10% or more of Medicaid premiums. Commercial, which includes Marketplace plans, made up 21%. Medicare made up 19%, including Medicare Advantage (private alternatives to Original Medicare), sold mainly under the Wellcare brand. Other services, such as specialty pharmacy, vision and dental, made up 3%; in December 2025 Centene agreed to divest its remaining Magellan Health businesses.

• In Q3 FY2026 (ended Sep 30, 2026), revenue was $50.65B, up 1.9% from a year earlier, and net income was $-71.0M.
• For fiscal 2025, revenue was $194.78B (+19.4% year over year; +11.9% a year from FY2020 to FY2025) with a -3.4% net margin.

• Over FY2021–FY2025: $8.63B in buybacks and $0.00 in dividends.
• The company pays no regular dividend.
• Shares outstanding changed -15.1% from Feb 18, 2022 to Oct 23, 2026.

Rank among 1514 US companies

Market value at each year end

Centene’s market value went from $9.66B at the end of 2016 to $32.94B on Nov 2, 2026, about 3.4 times as much; since the end of 2025 it is up 63%.

Form 4 filings from 2025-10-28 to 2026-10-28 (25 read): 0 open-market purchases and 3 sales ($12.1M).

Large shareholders (13G filings)

ETFs with the most weight in CNC

1. Medical costs rising faster than premiums. Centene's margins are thin, so small rises in medical spending hit profits hard. In 2025, Medicaid costs for behavioral health, home health and high-cost drugs ran higher than expected, and state rate increases can lag.
2. Medicaid cuts and new eligibility rules. The 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act adds work rules and more frequent eligibility checks for Medicaid Expansion and may cut federal Medicaid funding from 2028. Fewer, sicker members could squeeze Centene's biggest segment.
3. Marketplace surprises and subsidy changes. Centene is the largest Marketplace insurer. In 2025, data showing a sicker market overall cut its risk-adjustment revenue (payments shifted toward insurers with sicker members). The end of enhanced federal premium tax credits adds uncertainty.
4. Dependence on a few big state contracts. State Medicaid contracts must be won and renewed, and audits can bring adverse findings. Florida and New York each supplied about 10% or more of 2025 Medicaid premiums, so trouble in either could hurt results.
5. Drug plan bids and rising drug costs. Centene is the largest stand-alone Medicare drug plan provider. It must bid each year to take part, and new high-cost specialty drugs could push costs above what premiums cover.
6. Debt and limits on cash from subsidiaries. Total debt was about $15.5 billion as of September 30, 2026. State regulators must approve dividends from Centene's health plans to the parent company, which can limit cash for debt payments and buybacks.

• Oct 27, 2026 Quarterly results released
• Oct 8, 2026 Other company announcement
• Sep 16, 2026 Investor presentation or announcement
• Aug 17, 2026 Executive or board change; Investor presentation or announcement
• Jul 29, 2026 Other company announcement
• Jul 28, 2026 Quarterly results released; Executive or board change; Investor presentation or announcement
• Jun 22, 2026 Executive or board change; Investor presentation or announcement
• May 15, 2026 Executive or board change; Shareholder vote results
• Apr 28, 2026 Quarterly results released
• Mar 24, 2026 Executive or board change

Centene does not pay a dividend and paid none from FY2021 through FY2025, so it offers no cash income. Any return comes from share price changes, and cash for spending would have to come from selling shares. The company spent about $8.6 billion over those five years on buybacks, or repurchases of its own shares, which helped cut the share count by 15.1% between February 2022 and October 2026. Buybacks slowed to $475 million in FY2025, a year with a $6.7 billion net loss.

Downturns have hit the shares hard. They dropped 53.2% during the 2008 financial crisis and took 33 months to recover. In the 2020 COVID crash they fell 32.4% but recovered in under a month. In the 2022 bear market they fell 24.1% and had not regained their August 2022 peak as of October 28, 2026. As a single stock, Centene carries more risk than a diversified fund, where one company's troubles matter less.